ITS NOT YOUR FAULT YOURE NOT MY HERO Its ...
Oh no, Palm Beach is Mobilizing
The recent Josh Neufeld illustration of Ronald and Nancy Reagan (12/3) was despicable and evidence that since MUGGER departed the management of New York Press, your rag has become unfit even for the lining of birdcages. I really am surprised the editors and management allowed publication of that mean-spirited, crude art. Arguments aside as to Ronald Reagan's tenure, the man is suffering from Alzheimer's.
If any of you vermin live long enough, you too might develop such maladies as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's. Given your attitudes, you'd most likely be swept into the gutter and pissed on. New York Press management staff and that poseur Neufeld have confirmed that there is no limit to how low one can go.
Tell you what I am going to do: I am going to give you one week to print a public apology. If a retraction of the Neufeld atrocity and an apology to the Reagans is not printed?and on the front page of New York Press, I promise to mobilize my social and business group against your advertising base. Believe me, you won't be able to give space away in your pitiful paper. Pity the poor merchant who knows that an ad in New York Pus, um, Press, is the best way to lose customers?then when you are drooling with Alzheimer's while your spouses fellate physicians, you can use your few remaining active brain cells to reflect on your inept attempt at responsible journalism.
N. Stockwell Blount, Palm Beach, FL
Joe Momma
Koyen: Your stewardship of New York Press is about as sound as that of Captains Smith and Gansas of the Staten Island Ferry. Somehow you think that being super-macho is the way to go, as evidenced by your ridiculous boxing match with a fellow journalist. I have tried to ignore the general nastiness in tone the paper has taken since you assumed control. But the pictures of the four strung-up dogs and the buckets of drowned kittens ("Dusk Patrol," 12/10) was the last straw. The article itself was pointless. Just an excuse for you to beat your chest over an imagined road-rage incident.
Here's hoping that the next time you are cornered, it is by 30 "guidos" with pointy shoes and sharp rings who kick and punch the living crap out of you: A beating that would probably be applauded by many longtime New York Press readers.
Joe Mazza, Manhattan
Mars in Summer, Pluto in Winter
I don't know what planet Alexander Zaitchik is living on, but Bob Kerrey returned from Vietnam as an ardent anti-war activist ("Rotation," 12/17). I can recall him in a linked-arm stroll down some Nebraska street protesting the war. To say that he is unapologetic about our participation in Vietnam is idiotically wrong.
Larry Bailey, Alexandria, VA
Alexander Zaitchik responds: Fact is, Kerrey shared a stage with his friend and journo flack David Halberstam, who defended the civilian massacre in question on grounds that "by 1969 everyone who lived [in Thanh Phong] would have been third-generation Vietcong." Kerrey has also pointedly refused to contribute to veteran-run funds dedicated to rebuilding villages he helped destroy. And a few marches don't nullify war crimes.
Molly Ivins, Jr.
Signorile: Thanks for the great article. I visited your city for the first time in September, and I fell in love. I think it's horrible the way Bush is using it as a prop ("The Gist," 12/10). If I could get there next year I'd be protesting, just like I did last year in San Francisco. And by the way, not all of us Texans vote as if we have no free will. Actually, I'm quite insulted the shrub even calls himself a Texan. Just remember there are a few of us liberals out here. Keep up the good work.
Elizabeth B. Poole, Houston
Thanks, Grams
You know that your paper really stinks, right? Hypocritical right-wing spin is soooo 1997, but you haven't noticed your spot on the bell curve, yet. Give us a break, please.
How laughable is it that you insulted some NYU filmmaker who opposed censorship by writing "we do have something against pretentious whiners with unoriginal ideas." Meanwhile, there's a piece directly above this item about how we need to make it harder to sue the government when it breaks its own laws, which is itself a whiny, pretentious and very trendy bunch of crap ("Page Two," 12/10)?
You need to turn off Fox News, because that seems to be where you get all your ideas from. The idea that we need to make it harder to sue our lawless government when it breaks its own laws (as it did with the Staten Island Ferry disaster, both space shuttle accidents and so on) comes out of the mouths of robot stereotypes like Bill O'Reilly and synthetic-heroin-addict Rush Limbaugh every damn day. (Or maybe you thought mocking the cover of the Weekly World News?a paper that's a lot more fun than yours?was an original idea?)
Grow up, indeed.
And why do you feel the need to print inarticulate letters from Bush-lovers bashing Matt or Michael? Either they should rebut their arguments point-by-point and explain the exact facts they got wrong, or else they should shut their empty mouths up. These people are uneducated townies, and if they don't have anything smarter to say than "too bad Matt is aiding our enemy by disparaging our commander in chief," then use that space for something more thoughtful or valid.
I still skim your paper because you occasionally print something that's informative that bucks the conventional wisdom, such as Robert Ecksel's excellent piece ("New York City," 12/10) exposing the NYPD as the lazy shitheads they really are. I hope no one writes in to call it "liberal" or "left wing", because telling the truth and criticizing lawless government that protects criminals isn't left wing. The NYPD is little more than a public relations wing of city hall, and I've received the same indifference whenever I've reported crime.
Please: more articles criticizing our stupid government and fewer that hail our lawless politicians. And when MUGGER attacks "limousine liberals," I want to punch him out. It's not hypocritical of rich Democrats to ride in limos (though I find it noxious), because at least these rich white men care about poor people and minorities, which is a lot more honorable (and Christian) than the hypocritical rich white men of the Republican Party who only care about themselves because they got theirs already. I wish I weren't an atheist because I know Jesus No. 2 would go after these greedy selfish Republicans first, putting an end to their bullshit and hypocrisies.
And last but not least: Your new cartoons are immature and boring.
Janice Amato, Manhattan
Nobody's Patsy
I am not surprised by the RNC move to hold the convention in the city ("The Gist," 12/10), and I am certainly not shocked by their ploy to bump the date closer to 9/11 (the latest any convention has ever been held). What worries me is what sort of diabolical mischief BushCo will try to pull to prop up Bush's stature. I can imagine some sort of terrorist event during the summer?not something nearly as devastating as 9/11, but an isolated bombing, perhaps... Just enough to go to "Code Red" and invoke martial law. That'll keep those pesky protestors in line! Bush is a hero! Sieg, Heil! Man, I do not trust these guys. Anyway, keep up the good work.
Patsy Monteleone, Pennington, NJ
Big Poppa Smirk
Signorile: Just read your article on the RNC ("The Gist," 12/10). Great read. I can't wait to see all the protestors in the Big Apple come convention time. Since I will be unable to join the masses, I would like to suggest this as a placard for the protestors: a very beautiful and large stunt turkey in a flight suit. What do you think? Several dozen of these strategically placed would make a certain point. Just a thought.
Jill Southworth, Lynnwood, WA
Three-Hour Tour
Signorile: I think DeLay and all his colleagues should stay on a luxury ship off of Manhattan ("The Gist," 12/10). In fact, it would be nice if the cowards set sail for the Bermuda Triangle and never returned.
Joseph Varada, Placentia, CA
Spin Me Right Round, Baby, Right Round
Matt Taibbi's basic do's and don't's of counterinsurgency spin ("Cage Match," 12/10) made me laugh so hard that I almost choked on a pretzel. The same day I read it, the provisional government (ha) of Iraq announced that they would stop counting Iraqi civilian deaths. Surely, this qualifies as a spin-worthy "do"! For the sake of our national security, I hope that Karl Rove and Rupert Murdoch can get back to doing what they do best: lying.
Ron Brynaert, Brooklyn
Compassionate Conservatism
In response to Drew Nederpelt's article on the Fabiani meeting ("New York City," 11/26): I actually did meet Drew Nederpelt at the Fabiani at that meeting. Actually, I wasn't dressed very well myself, and I think he might have been too self-absorbed to notice that someone else sitting right across from him looked kind of frumpy. He seemed otherwise to be pretty nice, asking me what I did for a living and describing the work that he did and the book of his friend David.
As a Fabiani regular, I disagree strongly with his depiction of Lowry and the audience. If he'd gotten to know people, instead of judging them by their outfits and sticking closely with his friend, maybe he'd see we're a diverse group of people.
Unfortunately, the best efforts of bridging the gap between right and left consists of Nederpelt attending one meeting, downing a couple of drinks (what salmon hors d'oeuvres?) and making a couple of superficial and snide observations.
Jeanette Baik, Manhattan
Pull the Cord
A little note to all of you close-minded Taibbi haters: Someone much wiser than I once said "Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they're open!" Think about it and try to be more objective in your close-minded, led-by-the-nose-down-the-path world of yours. Taibbi is a fantastic journalist, and when you finally pry open that mind of yours, you will see it, too.
Gail Bentley, Manchester, NH
That's Not Your Real Name
I would just like to comment that Matt Taibbi's anti-Christian article ("Cage Match," 12/17) is the best I've read in a long time! The writing is direct, honest and to the point. I think it addresses the most fundamental point our society faces at this moment, failure to hold liars accountable. It is no coincidence that the liars that trumpet Christian myths are the same liars that told us we'd find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Nick Antic, Manhattan
Nina Knows Best Dot Com
I am the subject of the article "Smart Fuckers" by Martin Downs ("New York City," 12/17). While I appreciate the article, I'm disappointed and surprised that my url was removed. Can you explain to me why this was done? And is it possible to put it back?
Nina Marachino, Manhattan
Atheists of the World Unite
"Onward (un)Christian Soldiers" by Matt Taibbi ("Cage Match," 12/17) is a breath of fresh air in our religiously polluted environment. While it is true that we nonbelievers are polite and often live in self-imposed caves, it is also true that the media at large has for decades ignored or belittled us. Most newspapers offer one, two or three pages weekly to market religious issues, making no effort to offer a forum for the godless.
Since godless Americans represent the fastest-growing group in the country, it may also be true that we are its largest group of citizens. You are to be commended for publishing this article. Millions upon millions of nonbelievers have renewed hope for equal treatment and equal time in the media.
After all, it is the godless who "stare the world frankly in the face." It is the godless who have read the likes of Bertrand Russell and Voltaire. It is the godless who have put aside the dogmas of traditional theology. It is the godless who take responsibility for their destiny. It is the godless who have supported social and scientific progress over the last 2000 years.
Yet, sadly, as if we were still in the Dark Ages, it is the godless who are too often silenced while believers with their invisible friend, their dogmas, their opposition to scientific progress and their blind faith are lavished with attention. Thank you for exposing the Grahams of the world.
As the messiah myself, going by the name Robert David Graham, I take issue with your piling me in the bunghole with Billy and Frank ("Cage Match," 12/17). I used to believe in them, too. But they can suck my big banana. You are right about one thing; they ask people to pray for whatever will have no manipulating quality because God won't honor prayers designed to tempt or manipulate Him. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. I've seen God, and I stand at the center as the light of the world. You don't even believe me, so you can bet your boots Billy and Frank think I'm wacko. He who laughs last laughs best.
Robert David Graham, Cologne, Germany
A Pope?Corrupt?!?
This individual makes the usual mistake of assuming the actions of self-identified Christians are in harmony with the Holy Bible and represent the embodiment of Christ's kingdom on earth ("Cage Match," 12/17). Does he assume the war of Northern Aggression waged by the pious Lincoln was divinely inspired? Does he assume that the sexual escapades of Clinton were church policy just because he liked to pose with the Bible in his hand? Historical note: The Crusades were cooked up by a corrupt pope a few centuries after the Muslim's occupation of Spain.
Randall L. Harrell, Pasadena, MD
Mike's Mixed Metaphors
Those who would disparage the Ronald Reagan cover ("The Mail," 12/17) are slime filth whoresons who wouldn't know a good illustration if their wives were sucking its dick.
Mike Weber, Brooklyn
Zenith Pats Two Backs
Kudos to Alexander Zaitchik for clearly explaining what's vile about having a state terrorist like Bob Kerrey as president of the New School ("Rotation," 12/17). The institution has obviously been taken over by bodysnatchers and hollowed out from within so that its original principles exist only as shallow boilerplate rhetoric. The temps who labor there as instructors can believe whatever they want, but they have no power or institutional clout. Hell, they can't even get the regime to bargain collectively with them!
As to Matt Taibbi's call to arms to atheists ("Cage Match," 12/17), hey, sign me up. But the problem is, atheists are people who think for themselves. "We" don't have any unifying ideology or emotional hangup to make us a coherent bloc. So it's easy to trample our rights, as with any unorganized group of people. And as far as Christianity's deleterious effect on progress, it's much worse than Taibbi says: We're going to die because of the Catholic Church in particular.
Here's why: Imagine the state of biomedicine, say, 100 years from now. By then, or not long afterwards, assuming anti-science zealots don't put the brakes on even harder than they are now (stem-cell research barriers, e.g.), we can expect that the cause of aging will have been discovered and ways to negate it found. Now by how many centuries did the Catholic Church retard the development of science in Europe? How many centuries did the Dark Ages last, for example? (Perhaps Islam deserves opprobrium for making Arab civilization backward too.) Modern science finally managed to come into existence in Europe, but it didn't free itself of religious fetters entirely until...well, never, as we see. At least not in America.
So blame the pope and his minions for your mortality.
Jason Zenith, Manhattan
Brodeur Calls Us Idiots, Part 20,394
You guys must be kicking yourselves in the ass now. For the umpteenth time, you refused to listen to me and it turned out I was right and you were wrong.
You and all the other papers are whining that Giuliani (in the form of his Junior Corporate Sell-Out, Bloomberg) is killing you over your newspaper boxes on the sidewalks, and yet you could've prevented this all from happening, but you chose to support our criminal government instead of confronting it.
For example, it was in my platform when I ran for mayor in 2001 on the Green Party line to create a Fairness Law that no liberal or conservative disagrees with. (I was the only candidate pushing this because I was the only honest and intelligent candidate running.)
Here's how it would work for you idiots at New York Press: If you receive huge fines from Bloomberg because your vending boxes have been vandalized with graffiti, then Bloomberg himself would receive fines for every single subway car window that has been vandalized. (That's tens of thousands of different fines right there!) Simple fairness and equality.
Governor Pataki would also receive enormous fines for any litter or graffiti on the subways (as he runs the MTA), and all three levels of the executive branch would be fined for the endless graffiti on street-corner mailboxes, street lamps and so on. Of course, Bloomberg would also be mandated to fine Verizon for each of their payphones that have any graffiti on them.
But wait, it gets even better...
Since you pay your government trillions of dollars a year (and one of their main missions is to protect you from crime), under my laws, it is the government?which didn't do the job they got paid handsomely to do?who would get huge fines instead, if your property (the disputed street vending boxes) was victimized by criminals. (And perhaps you should get a portion of your taxes back, a la a money-back guarantee.) It was your idol, Rudy Giuliani, who boasted endlessly that he had "changed the behavior of criminals" and controlled crime levels, which is enough legal basis in a court to blame his negligence for your damaged street boxes.
But evidently I'm the only one who thinks outside the box. (Ouch.)
Maybe someday you'll regret kissing the ass of government now that they've come for you. (What's that? No one is coming to your rescue? Hard to swallow your own medicine, huh?)
Live by the lie, die by the lie. You didn't endorse me in 2001 or have any meaningful discussion of solutions or improvements to NYC or its corrupt government, so you have only your reflection in the mirror to blame for all your problems. My Fairness Law alone will revolutionize American society by holding government accountable for its mistreatment of the taxpayers. I'm also making it a felony for any government employee?starting with myself?to deceive or lie to the taxpayers in any way or be a hypocrite. (Giuliani was a virtuoso of the double standard, just like you dorks, and when I put this on a referendum ballot, the voters are going to jump at the chance to force their "representatives" to practice what they preach.)
The 2005 mayoral race is already getting lots of ink, but none of it is articulate or relevant. Ask that moron Freddy Ferrer for a list of his innovations?there aren't (m)any?and then perhaps you hypocrites can attempt to counter the media's propensity to talk about stupid shit in elections and have no debates on ideas.
Note to self: don't hold your breath.
CXB, Cloud City
And Merry Christmas to You. Really.
"The unbeliever who ridiculed and mocked the things of God will meet the same God as those of us who 'professed' to know Him but would not serve Him, will. We need to constantly be mindful that we know not the day nor the hour of our time to meet God, but it is for sure we need to live our lives so that whatever the moment, Judgment Day will not find us lost and undone without God."
Atheists and their ilk ("Cage Match," 12/17) are bent on destroying the very moral and religious foundation on which our country was founded. But in the end they will not succeed. Just look around you; God is everywhere. He created everything and everyone, including you and me.
As for me, I'd rather believe in God, die and find out there isn't one, rather than being a non-believer, die and find out there is a God.
I pity those that are not believers and will pray that God comes into their hearts before they come before the Judgment of God.
Merry Christmas! May God's love come into your heart as His gift to you!
Bill Everitt, Pleasanton, TX
Land of Lost, Modest Proposals
Thank you, Matt Taibbi, for writing the most important and informative article of the year ("Cage Match," 12/17). If I recall correctly, there was an episode in Land of the Lost where the family met an old miner or prospector who admitted to eating some Sleestaks and that they tasted a bit like lobster. Mea culpa?this memory has somehow survived for decades even though I've forgotten more important stuff like when exactly the Kaiser Saddam Milosevic sunk the U.S.S. Maddox in Havana Harbor with all those WMDs he had, so perhaps it is apocryphal.
Anyway, I propose disseminating this information and starting an "Eat a Sleestak for Freedom" campaign, which will hopefully entice someone (other Sleestaks?) to begin dining on them, thereby reducing their numbers and lessening the descent of America into the pit of moribund, pious ignorance into which it is currently plummeting.
Remember, they hate us for our opposable thumbs.
Tom Ehrhardt, Haliburton, Ontario
Apparently Not
I learned a lot about $20 bills and money laundering in Dan Neel's fine article ("Fancy Greens, Pusherman Blues," 12/17), so I won't blame him for misidentifying a bit of American coinage. The woman on the $1 coin nobody wants is not Pocahantas. It's Sacagawea. Don't factcheckers or editors pick up on stuff like that?
Norman Schmidt, Cos Cob, CT
Mean Green Machine
I write in response to an article by Adam Bulger on our Green Party candidates night at the Brecht Forum a while back ("New York City," 10/29). The article is written in the Press' trademark glib, sneering style. Though we were hoping for something with a little more substance, we weren't really all that surprised at the coverage we got. Even so, I'd like to do your readers the service of (better) informing them about a couple of items that come up in the story.
First of all, the "coup," or the "miracle" (as Bulger puts it) of our election of the mayor and two trustees of the village of New Paltz, New York. Now I know the choice of words is poetic license on Bulger's part?which might be okay if he were writing poetry, but this was supposed to be hard political reporting.
Jason West won the election along with trustee candidates Rebecca Rotzler and Julia Walsh. Bulger goes out of his way to degrade them and reduce them to stereotypes, to which I can only ask: Would it be so terrible to have some grudging respect for these people? They've taken on the responsibility of public office, they're putting in a lot of time and effort to improve the quality of life and the environment in their city and the surrounding area (Jason has a plan to build artificial wetlands to better handle sewage treatment and wants to buy some of New Paltz's electricity from upstate wind energy projects). Would it kill New York Press to express some admiration for that kind of public spirit?
And let's put the New Paltz victory in context. A couple of weeks ago (Dec. 9), the Green Party came very close to electing its first mayor of a "major" American city?San Francisco. Green Party member Matt Gonzales won 47 percent of the vote against a Democrat who not only outspent him 10 to one but also had the benefit, according to the New York Times (Dec. 11), of considerable help from the local (get this) Republican Party. Both major parties had to get into an alliance to fend off a very strong challenge from a Green.
Gloria Mattera and I ran as Greens in New York City Council elections this fall, and we both finished ahead of two-thirds of the Republicans in the race?which, you could argue, makes the Green Party the second, not the third, party in this town. All this bodes well for how voters will respond to our party and our progressive program.
Which brings me to the "guttural rage" so many Democrats allegedly feel toward us Greens as a result of the election of 2000. Having campaigned as a Green on the street in Astoria, Queens, just this fall, I'm here to tell you the reports of raging Democrats are greatly exaggerated. What's more, whenever I ask these furious folks to defend the Welfare Reform Act of 1996, the Effective Death Penalty Act, the anti-LGBT Defense of Marriage Act, the anti-labor North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Telecommunications Act of 1998?all atrocities of corruption brought to us by the Clinton administration?well, then they're suddenly not so furious. Because of course they can't defend such a ghastly record of caving in to the Republicans.
For my part, however, I'm not as concerned with Democrats as I am with those voters who don't even bother to vote anymore because they don't see what good it will do. Most people don't have big bucks to contribute to political candidates, and they can plainly see that politicians mostly serve those individuals and organizations that write the biggest checks to their campaigns. (Even under New York City's highly respected campaign finance system, candidates are still allowed to accept pretty big sums?up to $2750 from individuals, PACs, unions and businesses such as partnerships and limited liability companies, etc. In New York State elections? Don't ask. There's practically no regulation at all.)
Nader's campaign in 2000 didn't take a cent of corporate or PAC money, and rightly made those tons of cash going to Bush and Gore look like a free-for-all of legalized bribery. That message wasn't lost on millions of people who don't have any particular loyalty to the two major parties. It's those people to whom we've been reaching out, and whose ranks will grow as time goes on.
We Greens don't have millions of dollars in the bank, and we don't have smartly dressed professional staff and Ivy League interns doing all the work. The Green Party has a staff of three at an office in Washington. Everyone else is a volunteer. But we're doing pretty well, I think, given the immensity of the task before us. We're building a broad-based, activist, membership-based political party that wants to represent working people, poor people and everyone who's more or less shut out of the corrupt system championed by the two major parties. So I'm not discouraged by the people who ridicule us. We're taking up the challenge of the times?not just sitting around talking about it.
Jerry Kann, Green Party Office in Manhattan
In Defense of Jeebus
I enjoy reading Matt Taibbi's derisive articles concerning the fiasco that is the Iraq situation, and I suppose I still will when he's on that subject. But he just had to go and attack Christianity ("Cage Match," 12/17) even as he enjoys the fruits of a nation founded by religious Christians, and served up to him out of a European civilization that, as any honest historian will tell you, would not exist and prosper without Christianity (see Norman Cantor, Thomas Greer, H.W. Crocker III, etc.).
So atheists are "too nice" to take on Christians? I'd somehow failed to notice it. What with the endless lawsuits against anything remotely resembling a public declaration of Christianity, the atheist who wants God removed from the Pledge of Allegiance and the complete inability of anyone in the mass media to dare to mention that they're a Christian without fear of ridicule from people like Taibbi, I guess I might be forgiven for missing his point about what nice, silent darlings atheists are.
Taibbi then goes on to inform the world that we evil Christians are behind an insidious plot by holier-than-thou business types to pray for success in the colonization of Iraq. The fact that there are a billion and a half Christians in the world, that there is likely to be a variety of political opinion among them, and that the pope (you know, the guy who represents about a billion of that billion and a half) is vocally opposed to the Iraq War is somehow completely lost on Taibbi (or, his article is preaching to the converted and he expects his allegedly extra-intelligent atheist audience to ignore simple facts as much as he does).
Then there is the usual atheist jumping-up-and-down, tantrum-throwing cry that there have been some "Christians" in history who were bad people, though how an atheist rates what's bad or good with no ultimate reference point is something that none of them has ever been able to explain coherently (also note that they seldom seem to notice that atheists in Germany, Russia, China, etc. succeeded in murdering tens upon tens of millions of people in one century's time alone after pushing Christianity aside).
Starting from the time just after Christ's Resurrection, Christianity's earliest adherents were largely the poor, the outcast, the slaves, the orphaned and the hated of the world. For Christianity's first 300 years, these people were persecuted at every turn by people like the ancient Romans, whom Taibbi would most likely have found very cool as they were libertine, urbane and practicing a form of pagan atheism in between throwing unwanted babies out to die (or to be picked up and adopted by Christians) and slaughtering the conquered people of other nations by the thousands (see Christianity on Trial, The Power and The Glory, or any one of dozens of other well-researched books).
Almost 2000 years later, after a lot of misbehavior by false "Christians" of every stripe, but also after infinitely more good works by real Christians while following in the footsteps of God through Christ, the religion's adherents are still largely the poor, the working-class, the outcast, etc., as evidenced by the fact that Christianity is most strongly on the rise in the so-called Third World. Its most devout adherents include the descendants of slaves who were freed through the mostly Christian anti-slavery movement, and poor people everywhere struggling in a world run by mega-capitalists who are every bit as atheist as Taibbi.
Taibbi and his atheist pals, who snobbily dream that they are the more intellectual among us, erect grotesque straw men dressed like conservative upper-class Christians and then knock them down, when the truth is that Christianity is, on a massive and easily documented scale, serving the poor and the needy to which Taibbi and company would probably only pay lip service.
But there remains a bit of hope. I note that Taibbi at one point amusingly ridiculed the notion that the Bible would endorse greedy businessmen's sensibilities about their version of "prayer." So Taibbi knows, when all is said and done, that God's Word would have nothing to do with such nonsense. I urge him to follow that line of thought into the goodness of God and turn to Christ for his eternal soul's sake. His hero Bertrand Russell lied to him. It was he who could not face the reality of death and rot and admit the simple truth that a life on earth without its Creator being involved can have no true meaning.
Jack Seney, Queens